European court: Surrogate babies deserve status

PARIS (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that France was wrong to refuse to register the birth of a child born to a surrogate mother.

France outlaws surrogate births, but some French parents go abroad where it is legal.

The Labassee family had a child legally with a surrogate mother in the United States, then returned to France and tried to register the child as theirs. French authorities and courts refused, and the parents brought the case to the European court in Strasbourg, France.

The court ruled Thursday that France had violated the rights of the child — and of two other children in a similar situation — by refusing to recognize the parent-child relationship. It ordered France to pay 5,000 euros in damages.